Skype to replace Xbox Live Chat on the new Xbox 720?

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After its 2011 acquisition of Skype, Microsoft is reportedly replacing Xbox Live Chat with the VOIP service for all communication on the Xbox platform, according to sources in the know.

Computer and Video Games reports Microsoft will be "consolidating all their communications technology" around Skype. The move from Xbox Live Chat to Skype will reportedly happen with the launch of the next generation Xbox console, currently slated for later this year.

Microsoft had already begun its move of making Skype the centre of its communications technology by planning to retire its Messenger service in March and encourage users to move to Skype.

Essentially there's little to the transition process away from Messenger: simply sign-in with a Microsoft Account and a user's Messenger contacts will be available. Presumably, Skype's move on to the Xbox would work the same way.

Microsoft hinted at the move in an August job advertisement on its website. "The team you'll join is responsible for Skype in the living room (broadly the home), across various devices but with a focus on the large screen and the next generation of Xbox," the Seattle-based company said.

Skype was acquired by Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion. We'd imagine the move to Skype on the Xbox would allow for more fluid communication between gamers, connecting with gamertags.